


Rose: Visit an Old Friend

by LastNameWasTaken



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Kanaya is in the second chapter, anything else??? Look I'm new here I don't know what I'm doing, irrelevent fantrolls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastNameWasTaken/pseuds/LastNameWasTaken
Summary: Rose visits John on his birthday. They bake a cake and talk about feelings and stuff.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first piece of writing I've really posted publicly. That being said, it's probably not all that great. And kind of OOC. 
> 
> I am open for constructive criticism and will gladly accept advice.

Today was the anniversary of when you first played Sburb.

But, most importantly, it was the birthday of your best friend.

It was already late in the day, and Jade had just broken the news to you. John didn't want anyone to come over on his birthday, even when Jade insisted. You knew better, though. If John wanted to spend his birthday alone in his house, then you were going to come too.

You arrived at his home rather quickly; Flight made most transportation easy if somewhat uneventful. His house had turned a grimy shade of gray and there was dust and dirt that lined the walls from all the rain. The birthday banner from last year was torn and sagging from it's own weight. He had clearly taken a blue paint brush and wrote '20' over the nineteen. Part of you wondered why he kept the banner in the first place, and the other part of you wondered if he had ever taken the banner down at all. His whole house looked like he had barely taken care of it, the only thing that really clued you in on his presence was the freshly cut lawn. You walk up to his door, and would have knocked if the wind hadn't opened the door for you. A little wind in the middle of no where was strange, but not locking the door? 

Well, when you have god powers _and_ live out in the middle of nowhere, you have less to worry about. 

You walk in, making sure to close the door behind you. Once again, you can tell John hardly took care of the place. Dust coats almost every surface, the carpet is dirty and covered in the occasional mud spots, which look like they haven't been cleaned out very well. Movie cases are scattered Granted, it's not the _worst_ you've ever seen but… well, he can do better. You know he can. All it does is add more to your mental list of symptoms for unhealthy behavior patterns.

You can smell something coming from the kitchen, which you immediately recognize as cake. You make your way over and peer inside, seeing John at the counter with a crusty paper and a large mixing bowl. He was muttering to himself and trying to whisk the cake mix, and with the way he was gripping the handle and bowl, the mix was probably thicker than cement. 

“I thought you didn't like cake.” You say, and he jumps, turning around with a panicked look. You smile at him and wave, watching as his panic melts away. You knew he liked cake, just not in such large quantities. John was the type of person who saw through your irony, so, naturally, he didn't answer your question.

“I, uh, didn't ask anyone to come over.” He says with a laugh. “Did Jade send you?”

“No, I came of my own volition.” You walked over to the counter, looking at the bowl. “Do you need help?”

“Uh—yeah. It's… been a long time since I've made a cake. This is my tenth try.” He points to the trash bin behind you, where about nine cakes, all at various stages of completion, laid both in and around the bin. Some of the cakes looked overcooked and some looked like a gooey mess. 

“I assumed that, with the way your father baked so many cakes on your birthday, you would have learned how to make one.” You teased. “Jane too. You and her baked a cake last year, didn't you?”

“Yeah, but she was the one who did most of the heavy lifting. I mostly just handed her the ingredients.”

“That still counts. You still know what goes in and how to do so, right?”

“Well, yeah. But I can't figure out what's making it so difficult to mix. All the other times I had no trouble.”

You picked up the paper next to him, which was a recipe for a simple vanilla cake. You didn't know a whole lot about baking cakes, but you knew this type of recipe couldn't be that complicated. He must have forgotten an ingredient or two.

“How did you start?” You ask. 

“Just by putting in the cake mix, the flour, the eggs, that sort of thing.” He says. 

“Next?”

“The milk, The vanilla, the sugar and salt.”

You laugh. “I see your problem. You forgot the vegetable oil.”

“What? No way! I'm a certified cake maker! There's no way I could have forgotten that!” He exclaims, but you can tell from his tone that he means in jest.

“A certified cake maker that's been out of practice for years.”

“Well, if you're so good at making cakes, maybe you'd like to show me how to bake one?”

“Fine by me.” You say. You pick up the bowl and empty the contents into the trash with the rest of the other failed cakes. You set the dirty bowl on the counter with a few other ones, reaching into the cupboard and grabbing another one. You come back to John, who is cleaning off the whisk.

“By the way, I mean to ask you when you came in, but why'd you come here?” John asks.

“It's your birthday.” You say, dumping two cups of flour into the bowl.

“I know, but… You really didn't have to come.”

“I think I do.” You break open an egg. “Why didn't you want anyone to visit?”

“I don't know. I just wasn't feeling it this year.”

“You didn't last year, yet Jade, Karkat, and Dave still came over.”

“That was last year, and things were just different then.” He shrugs. 

“So, this year you decided to become a hermit?”

He laughs. “Yeah. The Hermit of Breath. The next heroes will have to come to me to learn the ways of wisdom, leadership, and the power of friendship. And how to properly bake cakes.”

“Your cake baking needs work before you can teach others.” 

“Isn't that why you're here?” 

You pause. You know he was joking, but the question… well, it did shake you. Not a lot, but it did make you stop in your tracks, You were here to visit him on his birthday, that much was true, but the more you thought about it, this was most likely the most you've seen of him since… well, forever. 

“We haven't talked a lot, haven't we?” You say, reaching for the vegetable oil. “Since the end of the game, at least.”

“I guess not.” He shrugs. You hand him the bowl, and he begins whisking with you holding the bowl in place.

“I suppose I felt the need to reintroduce myself, especially after so long.”

“It hasn't been that long.”

“Perhaps not.”

There's an uncomfortable silence between you, before John breaks away and reaches under the counter to take out a square glass bowl.

“I'll hold the bowl, you pour it it.” He says.

“A single layer cake?” You ask, already pouring the cake mix. 

“Yeah. It's a little less intense than two layered cake.”

“Usually you'd make this type of cake with mix, wouldn't you?”

“Yeah, but I decided to do it from scratch.”

“Because you despise Betty Crocker and the idea of using any cake mix is an indirect way of supporting her business?”

“No, of course not! It's just something fun to do.” He says, “Besides, Jane remade Betty Crocker and now it's much less corrupt than it was in our universe. I would happily support her business any day.”

You crack a smile.

\----

The two of you put the cake in the oven, and now you were looking around the house, with John trying to dust off as much as he can. You were over by the fireplace, looking at the picture of Nanna Egbert and the former resting place of her urn. Portraits of jesters and funnymen were still up, but they were coated in dust.

“I'm sorry this place is a pig sty.” He says, exasperated. “This is kind of why I didn't want anyone over.”

“No, it's fine.” You assure him. You admit you were never the neatest person either, despite the persona you put on. “In fact, I always took you as more organized than me.”

“Are you crazy? You're _way_ more organized than me.”

“Oh, that's very doubtful. Didn't you see my room on LOLAR? That place was a mess.” 

“The only thing that was messy about it how you were sleeping on a pile of your clothes instead of your bed.”

“Well, Dave did throw it out to put the Totem Lathe in its place.” You remember the frustration of your entry with annoyance, which ends up influencing your tone. 

He laughs, as if recalling an old memory. “Remember when you threw my bathtub out into the hall?” 

“What about the hat you alchemized?” You brought up with a chuckle.

He laughs. “Oh my god, yes. What about when I joked that I had to rescue you from your grimdark ways?”

You both explode into laughter, remembering your early days of Sburb. God, you were so young then. Despite all the hardships you endured, it was oddly nostalgic. It actually reminded you of how you felt about him 

“You know,” you begin with a laugh. “I actually had a crush on you when we were kids.” 

He stops laughing and looks at you, shocked. “Really?” He asks. 

“Yes, and that's not me being ironic. I was endeared by your jokes and silly pranks, and that soon developed into a crush.”

There was a small silence, then John spoke up.

“I admit… at the time, I did too. But once I grew up and didn't see or talk to you for so long, it kinda just disappeared. Plus, once I saw you and Kanaya, I realized you moved on too.”

“I suppose it's the same for me.” You say. “Looking back, it could have been just a silly childhood crush, or my attempt to cope with the situation. Possibly even a subconscious effort to make my life more tragic, not unlike the protagonists of the cosmic horror stories I absorbed at the time.”

“I think mine was more of a childhood crush, like I had with Vriska, actually.” He adds. “Although… I think it's different from what was going on between me and Vriska at the same time. But looking back, I think I jumped into it way to quickly. You're lucky you and Kanaya got some time to get to know each other, especially in comparison to the two of us.”

“Kanaya and I had roughly spent the same amount of time talking to each other during the same timeframe.” You pointed out.

“That was different. Vriska… well, I didn't stop to consider what kind of person she was.”

“You mean in your timeline?” You ask. Even with your light powers, you couldn't see all timelines. “Because, well, Vriska in our timeline actually helped us quite a lot.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, sometimes I forget that Vriska survived in this timeline.” He looks away with a guilty expression. “Although it doesn't really help that I knocked her out to make it happen.”

“You did what you had to do.” You say with a shrug. “By the way, do you remember when you told me that Karkat thought were suppose to get married?”

“Yeah, uh…. believe it or not, when Karkat showed us his… chart. I was actually really surprised and a little happy.” He confessed, “I thought, 'Hey! Karkat thinks we'd be a good match, and if he's so knowledgable about romance, then maybe we are meant to be. But then… Well, the scratch happened. You were on the meteor and I was on the ship. I didn't have any way to reach you."

You looked out the widow, remembering how it felt to emerge, fully alive from the green sun with god powers in tow. You felt so powerful, but you were upset at the idea that your sacrifice only made things worse. Then, when you remember that you had to wait for John and Jade, you were happy.

"I was fully prepared to wait there for you.” You said. “I desperately wanted to see you again, I actually wanted to tell you how I felt about that marriage idea. But when you didn't, I was crushed.” 

“I know what you mean. I really wanted to meet you and Dave. But I knew I couldn't leave Jade all alone like that. She was my sister, after all, and I think I needed to experience what it was like to have one.”

“It was very kind of you.” You say. “But, I'd be lying if I said I never wondered what would have happened if you had gone through the gate. I love Kanaya and I wouldn't trade her for the world. But I sometimes I wonder about the route you presented. Would we stay together? Would I end up with Kanaya anyway? I just don't know.”

He only responds with a hum, as if he's some sort of processor. You see a look of heartbreak in his eyes, and your heart aches. How long has he been like this? You were the first person to visit him on his birthday, you knew that as a fact. Dave and Karkat should have visited, or at the least insisted they should. Jade would have respected her brother's wishes, that's just the type of person she is. Jane or Jake should have visited too, but you knew that they were busy being business people. At least Roxy had the excuse of being John's ex, and now with her dating Calliope it would be too awkward for her to show up even without her girlfriend. You knew Dirk didn't know John all that well, same goes for Kanaya, and you couldn't honestly see Terezi coming to visit John. At least, not in a way that wasn't antagonistic. 

"John, why didn't you want anyone to come and visit you?” You ask, your voice soft.

“Everyone has a life now.” He sighs. “And they aren't lives where I fit in.”

“What makes you say that?” You scoot closer to him. 

“I guess it just has to do with how I can't seem to find my place in their lives anymore. I mean, it's great that they're happy and all, and I am happy that they're all happy; but I don't know if I fit in anymore. I can't even really explain it. It's like I've drifted away from everyone and I can't get back.”

You stop and think for a moment, wondering what could have brought on this mentality. He was alone with only his sister, the sprites, and countless consorts. You suppose this could be a result of being an Hier of Breath. He was someone who was independent of the ties to others, he could stay away from people for more than a century. But that the end of the day, you knew better. He was only human. Prolonged isolation was never good for anyone, sometimes even you needed contact, no matter how small it was.

“You're always welcome to come down and visit us.” You say, rather out of the blue. ”Kanaya wouldn't mind. I'm sure she'd be happy with the company. Company that isn't other trolls who don't know how to handle grubs.”

“I don't know.” John says. "I've hardly spoken to Kanaya. It'd just be… weird.”

“John, it's not too late for you two to get to know each other. I know it's more… personal than just sending each other snapchats and getting pesterlogs, but I assure you, Kanaya isn't the type of person to turn people away.”

“I don't know. The last time I spoke to Kanaya I was… well…”

“We were on Derse, ready to fight the Condesce.” You finish for him.

“Y-yeah, but I haven't spoken to her directly since…” he shakes his head, and for some reason you get the feeling he was hiding something. “Okay, the 'Since' here isn't important.”

“What happened?”

“It was just an old prank.” He said, “But… that's not important. Thing is, I don't want things to be awkward.”

“John, I know awkward. A harmless prank is nothing compared to what Kanaya would have experienced. Especially in the brooding caverns.”

“What kind of experiences would two have had in the brooding caverns?” He asks.

“Oh John, you have no idea.” You shake your head. “It's an experience you should have yourself.”

“Oh come on Rose!” He says, “You have to tell me now!”

“Only if you come over to the brooding caverns with me.” You affirm. 

John cracks a smirk. “Alright, I'll come over tomorrow. That's a promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Experimental Kanaya/John chapter. Not like, shippy of course, unless I messed up THAT bad.
> 
> Happy Homestuck day.

Your name is Kanaya Maryam, and you are uneasy.

Under the circumstances you know better than to be uneasy. It was not as if you were meeting with someone from the troll kingdom to check on progress and have to tell them you had an accident with some of the grubs. If anything, meeting with your wife’s old friend isn’t an occasion you should be concerned about.

But if anything, the lack of communication between the two of you and the fact that the first conversation you had with him was supposed to be with Rose, is mainly the source of your anxeity. It doesn’t help that to this day you are still not sure if Rose had found out about the blunder but never told you. This thought also does not help your state of mind.

So you find yourself deep in the caverns, taking care of grubs and the eggs, inspecting for any parasites, cracks or indentations. You carry a basket with you, picking up any grubs that are now wiggling around at your feet or over the eggs of their kin. You pick up a bronze grub that was crawling over another egg, it’s horns are straight with a notch on the end, not unlike yours. It gives you a little hiss, but it’s difficult for it to be threatening. You place it in the basket with your other assortment of grubs, mainly ranging from the low to mid spectrum.

“Kanaya!” You turn, seeing Rose walk down the caverns, a John Egbert in tow. Your chest tightens, but you do your best to force a well meaning smile. John’s a nice enough person, even if his pranks are both harmless and incredibly awkward years down the line. Judging from the look in his face, he knows about the blunder too, and probably doesn’t want to admit it anytime soon either.

“Hi Kanaya!” John says, waving. “You know, I think this is only the _second _time we talked.” He says. He puts sutble emphasis on ‘second’, like a joke between friends.__

__“I still can’t believe you two have only talked once. I always figured you had shared a conversion, either on the lilypad or just before our battle with the Condesce.” Rose says. She’s smiling, and you can’t detect the sarcasm in her voice. Sarcasm and puzzles were always things Rose was good at, but by this point you can tell when Rose was being sarcastic or playfully witholding information. Her sarcasm level shouldn’t have taken a sharp peak, not now._ _

__“Well, I suppose it’s a bit difficult to talk when we were rarely alone together.” You say, and the awkwardness in your tone does little for you. Rose’s smile wavers, but only as if she suspected soemthing else._ _

__“I can’t assume your first conversation went well.” She says. “I don’t think many of our first conversations are good measures of character. I assume it was full of condescening attitude or threats to block?”_ _

__“No, it felt more like an elaborate trolling attempt when we first talked.” John says. “I mean, she revealed everything right there about being an alien time traveling, but I just thought it was more trolling.”_ _

__“Yes, I rememeber that. You then proceeded to give me the plot synopsis to one of your movies.” Kanaya says, remembering the pesterlog. “I wouldn’t say that was a great first impression for both of us.”_ _

__“Then perhaps you two should start over.” Rose says. She gestures between the two of you, as though giving a presentation. “John, meet Kanaya. Kanaya, meet John.”_ _

__John extends his hand. “Hi there Kanaya, wife of my best friend Rose. It’s good to finally meet you. I’ve wanted to talk with you for a long time but no time seemed really apportiate.” He says, without much irony in his tone._ _

__Kanaya takes his hand and shakes it with a small, held-back smile. You aren’t too sure about the gesture, but decide it’s best to indulge his attempts at friendship. You think he might even appreciate a bit of sarcasm._ _

__“Hello John. I apologize for not taking the initiative and introducing myself. I think that as long as we are both connected through Rose we ought to try and get to know each other.” You say. You think leaving crumbs of the conversation might be a good way to build friendship between the two of you; which seems to work with Rose._ _

__“Right! And I promise I won’t bring up my favorite movies unless you really want to talk about it. Also, I will try not to give away too many spoilers because that ruins the whole experience.” He says._ _

__“Yes. And I will take steps to be properly sincere and hopefully not cause strange timeline anomalies down the line, hopefully on your end.”_ _

__The two of you don’t release hands for a while, until you realize your hand is getting uncomfortably warm and you let go. John still doesn’t know what to do, and Rose steps back, hands behind her back._ _

__Okay so now the three of you have reached an empass. No real way of continuing the conversation, and it does not help that you know as much about him as he does about you. The next ten seconds of silence is the most awkward ten seconds you had to endure. At the three second mark, you pray to whatever horrorterror watching this exchnage to stage an interruption. Any kind of interruption. You aren’t picky._ _

__“Rose?” Came another voice, one small, wavery and nervous. All three of you turn to see another Jade blood, this one you recongize as being one in charge of distributing grubs among their lusii. Her horns are small and curve back on her head. Her hair is a nervous wreck, not unlike her posture which was small and hunched over. “We have a problem.”_ _

__“What’s wrong?” Rose asks, “Is there something wrong with the Lusii?”_ _

__“In a sense! The problem is, is that one of the Lusii is a blue blood but it keeps trying to harm any grub that we give it. It refuses to take anything and now it’s starting to get violent.”_ _

__“To everything?” Rose asks. “You at least tried to quarantine it, right?”_ _

__“Of course! It’s down in a hole and we’ve tried calming it down. We think we might have to kill it, but someone suggested you might know what do with it. It’s a big cat and I know you took care of cats, so we believed you might be able to handle it.”_ _

__“Oh, well. I suppose I can do my best.” Rose says, thinking. “But do you happen to have a basket on hand?”_ _

__She looked at her, confused. “What for? Why do you need it?”_ _

__“I just brought my friend down here to help Kanaya with the grubs, but I forgot to bring along a basket.” Rose says._ _

__“Um... okay. I have two.” She says, taking out two empty baskets; no doubt from her sylladex. They both plop on the ground in a puff of dust. The girl looks at Kanaya’s basket, which was still wiggling with grubs. ”Would you like me to take your basket Kanaya? I have an extra one for you.” She asks._ _

__“Yes, I think it would be best if you deposited them somewhere safe.” Kanaya says, handing the nervous troll the basket. “By the way, please do not put them in the lusii feeding pit like you did last time.”_ _

__“Thank you Kanaya. I promise to take good care of them. I will keep them safe. “ she says. “I’ll lead you to the lusii pit, Rose.”_ _

__“I know where it is.” Rose says. The troll begins scurrying with the basket down the caverns, though Rose doesn’t follow right away. “You two will be fine together, right?” She asks._ _

__“I believe so. It’s not often I get a helper when it comes to grub gathering.” Kanayai says. “Well, one that isn’t you.”_ _

__Rose smiles at you. “I’ll be back soon!” She says, now going down the cavern to follow the troll._ _

—————

__“Who was that troll?” John asks. Oh, right._ _

__“That was Peatko. She has a habit of repeating herself unnecessarily.” You say with a slight sigh. “As you can tell she gets worrisome at the drop of a hat. But usually not in a productive way.”_ _

__“I think coming back to get her boss counts as productive.” John comments, picking up the basket. “So... what do you guys do down here anyway? You just hatch and raise trolls until their lusii come to get them?”_ _

__“Yes. Your assumption is accurate.” you confirm “Although sometimes Lusii don’t come to pick up any trolls. In their cases, we have to find viable parents for them.”_ _

__“Cool. Have you and Rose adopted any?” He asks, looking out over the eggs. “There’s so many of them here! I’m surprised you guys are able to keep the population under control. But like, in a non-violent way.”_ _

__“To be perfectly honest, it’s not as if all these eggs hatch.” you explain. “And disregarding the times when we accidently… turn them into grub sauce, chances are the lusii might. Oh, and no. Rose and I haven’t actually thought about raising a grub or human quite yet.”_ _

__“You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders. I think tou could handle it.” He says in confindence. He looks down, and you follow his eyes to see a purpl troll with horns that curve inward._ _

__His eyes light up, “Found one!” He announces, bending down to pick it up. But you stop him._ _

__“Don’t!” You warn, placing your hand on his arm to stop him. “That one just hatched. It’s not ready to be removed from the egg quite yet.”_ _

__“Oh, whoops.” He takes his hand away. “So... when will he be ready to get out?”_ _

__“At least a day. Two if he’s particularly stubborn.” You say. “It gets too damp in there for trolls, so you look for the ones that are already crawling.”_ _

__“I guess that makes sense...” John says._ _

__You begin walking down the caverns in silence, your footsteps and the sound of eggs hatching being the only sound for a few minutes._ _

__“So did you ever tell Rose about the time I accidentally impersonated her because I forgot to log out of her pesterchum account before answering you?” John suddenly brings up, like he had just found a violent secret dissolving in your ablution trap; but only got the courage to bring it up after he was sure you couldn’t be a threat to him_ _

__“No, I haven’t.” You admit. “I don’t know if Rose has found out and decided not to tell me for reasons similar to me not telling her. It’s like a very embarrassing blunder that no one wants to remember.”_ _

__John frowns, looking away from you. “Geez...” he says. “I didn’t think it was that bad.”_ _

__“Well, I suppose it isn’t.” You said, trying to lessen what she just said. “It’s just... maybe a little funny down the road? To the point where you think ‘Oh yeah. Perhaps we made too big of a deal out of this.’ That kind of thing.”_ _

__John smiles at that, and you can’t help but smile back. You look down, see a fellow jade crub, this one with a notch like yours, but lower on the horn. It’s hair is short and wikd. John scoops it up, right before you decide to bend down and pick it up. He holds it before him, like it was a meowbeast._ _

__“This one’s a Jadeblood like you, right?” John asks. “When you pick them up, do you name them right away?”_ _

__“Not usually.” You say. “Typically we leave it up to a different set of trolls to decide names.”_ _

__“Well, why don’t I name her... Tricia. That has six letters”_ _

__“Are you sure it’s a girl?” You ask. He looks confused._ _

__“It can be a boy? I thought all Jadebloods were girls.” He says, cradling the jadeblood. Truth be told, determining the gender was easy because of the eyelashes, all female trolls were born with longer ones. But there were other, more percise ways of doing so, assuming you had a particularly pretty male._ _

__“No, but Jadeblood males were usually culled.” You explained. You take the grub, cradling it in your arms. “I believe on Beforus, Porrim informed me they were usually done away with, which means they were treated like the lower classes and were not allowed to serve the mother grub. Apparently it was believed males were unfit for the job.”_ _

__“Why?”_ _

__“Well, I suppose it was just something a beforian version of Feferi envisioned. I liked her ideas just fine, but in many ways she was... naive.” you explain. You adjust the Jade grub in your arms to put it on it’s back. You gester for him to look, and he seems bashful. Nethertheless, he comes closer._ _

__“There’s a thin line down his body.” You explain. “Very light,it’s not uncommon for it to be unnoticed. If it’s there, that means it’s male. It’s a sort of beginner line for the chest.”_ _

__“Wouldn’t girls be the one to have that? Since you guys—“ he catches himself, then coughs. “I mean, you know. I don’t know if it’s out of line to mention that. I guess it’s like how males of our species have nipples, even through there’s no use for them.”_ _

__“I’ll act as though that phrase is something sufficiently strange in human dimorphism.” You say. John laughs._ _

__“Wow, no wonder Rose likes you so much.” He says. “You’re really funny!”_ _

__You smile, a little bashful at being complimented._ _

__“I think I’ll name him... uh, Trisst.” He says. “The horns kinda remind me of snake fangs. So, two ‘s’s.”_ _

__“I like it. A last name can be determined with time.” You encourage as John places the grub in the basket, “In fact, I give you free reign to name any grub you come across.”_ _

__You two continue to talk as John finds more grubs. You learn quickly that John is much more personal than Rose. He tends to be far more straightforward, which you aren’t too surprised by given his relation to Jade. This also means more gestures of physical affection, but since he knows you at a rudimentary level it’s mostly things like taps on the arm or back pats. You’re certain that once you continue talking, he’s going to become comfortable enough to hug you. But if you’re being honest, that’s not too bad. You like John, in the same way you like Karkat. You always saw Karkat’s softer side, but with John he’s clearly not ashamed of it. It’s a very likable trait in him, and you start to see what Rose saw in him._ _

__“Say, Kanaya.” He begins. He places a new, aquatic troll into his basket; now a multicolored, wriggling mess. “How was Rose? On the meteor, I mean.”_ _

__“She was... good.” You say, not sure what he’s asking about. “She wasn’t destroying things anymore, but I’ll assume you’d be aware of that.”_ _

__“I figured she was! But I guess what I’m asking is how she was... emotionally?” He clarifies. “I was mostly wondering because deep down, I always had a feeling she had some unfinished business. Did she say anything to you? About her mom or anything like that?”_ _

__“A bit.” you say, remembering some conversations between the two of you. “If I recall correctly, she was a bit inebriated on our first date, and she did admit to me some issues she had with alcohol.”_ _

__“Alcohol? She was drunk?” John asks, clearly surprised. “She always complained about her mom being drunk! She actually drank that stuff?”_ _

__“Only that one time!” You say. “She explained that she did it because she was nervous about dating me. I believe she was just fearful of being genuine with me. Well, I didn’t ‘believe’. She told me in confidence. But, I suppose confidence isn’t right. She was very ashamed of it.”_ _

__You think back to the memory, remembering Rose drunkenly trying to explain her behavior. She was clearly distraught, but trying not to show it too much. You remember near the end you made her promise to never touch alcohol again, which actually seemed to work._ _

__“I suppose with Vriska with us, I was able to get her to follow through on her promise of never touching alcohol.” You continue. “Vriska can be very forceful, I would know. But in this case it was actually good for Rose.”_ _

__“I keep forgetting Vriska was with you guys.” John says. “It’s kind of weird how she was like, the rock or something. From the way she described herself, she was the exact opposite.”_ _

__“I believe she’s better at helping people then she likes to admit. But usually it was for her own gain. It also used to be her methods of bettering people included more bullying, and you couldn’t stop her.” You continue._ _

__“I dunno. It seems like she did a lot of that even then.” John says. “I remember i met the other version of her. The one that died. I really liked her, but then I realized a lot of what she did included hurting more people. Eventually I just felt like she was really dangerous, and… I sort of hated her.”_ _

__You looked at him, surprised. “Hated her?” You ask. “You didn’t seem to hate her on the Lilypad!”_ _

__“Well, yeah! But, then she was mostly set on beating Lord English and giving us all jobs. She was reallt good at that, but even then she came off as kind of a jerk at time.” John explains. “Like when I was taking to Jake, or even when Jake was talking to Tavros sprite, she just seemed _mean_. I wanted to say something but... it didn’t seem like anyone really had issue with it.”_ _

__You frown. Come to think of it, Vriska really did come off as overly pushy, even back then. You start to wonder if the trade off was really worth it, between the positives Vriska brought, and the negatives you know see are are just dressed up as positives._ _

__“You know, there is one other thing I’m curious about.” John brings up, catching your attention. “Did either of them talk about me? I know Vriska had a crush on me at the time.”_ _

__“She did talk about you. Only a little bit, but that’s only from my perspective.” You answer._ _

__“Was it it positive?”_ _

__“Mostly. It seemed more like her interest was waning in you. I believe it was just from being separated from you, not necessarily you punching her. I believe any negatives was wondering why you punched her.” You explain._ _

__“What about Rose?”_ _

__“She talked about you quite a bit. Overwhelmingly positive!” You glow (almost literally). “I could tell she missed you. It was in our early years when I realized that she had feelings for you.”_ _

__John seemed to freeze at that. “I didn’t make things awkward, did I?” He asks, a little worried._ _

__“No, you weren’t there. How could you?”_ _

__“I meant just in general. Like, Dave Sprite dated Jade for a while in my timeline, so it was really awkward for me to talk to Dave sprite and not think ‘this guy broke up with my sister’.”_ _

__“It’s not as if you it made things uncomfortable in _that_ manner.” You begin. “If anything, I was worried if it was really my place to attempt to instigate a relationship with her while she held feelings for someone. But I talked with Porrim, my ancestor, and she gave me some advice. Mainly, if Rose continued to show signs of holding feelings for you, then it would be best for me to keep my distance and just be friends, which I was fine with. But if Rose gives me signs that she’s equally interested in me, then I shouldn’t worry.”_ _

__John sighs in relief. “Oh good. You guys are really great together. I guess I was mostly worried about being an obstacle. Which only makes everything super weird when I met you officially.”_ _

__“Was that what you were worried about?”_ _

__“Yeah! Rose told me she used to have a crush on me before we came here. It was flattering, but I was mostly worried that if I met you, you’d only remember the conversation where I impersonated Rose, and maybe see me as a rival. But I guess that’s just the worst case scenario and a sign I watched too many of Karkat’s dumb romcoms.”_ _

__“Yes, I think we’re both signs that those movies aren’t true to reality.” You chuckle. “We should probably be heading back, I think both of our baskets are—“_ _

__You look down to see your basket is completely empty. You look over to see John, who was now flying away with a basket full to the brim in grubs— many of which you recognized as _your_ grubs. _ _

__“ _Never trust a prankster Kanayaaaa!_ ” He laughs maniacally, his voice carrying through the caverns. You run after him, but you can’t keep down the laughter that bursts from you._ _

——

__You, John and Rose rendezvous at the entrance. You and John are smiling, your hair and his rustled from the case. He’s holding the basket with the combined effort of your grubs. Rose is covered in blue blood, Peatko in tow._ _

__“Well, our lusus problem is done!” Rose announces with a huff. “Who knew the lusus just wanted a troll like itself?“_ _

__“We eventually found one! Thank goodness.” Peatko reiterates._ _

__“I assume you two had a good grub handling day.” Rose says, taking the basket from John. “Oh, it looks like John got the most of them.”_ _

__“He stole them!” You said, trying to sound offended, but she couldn’t help but laugh. “Little by little, every time I was monologuing!”_ _

__“She had to fight me for them!” John says. “But she said I had to hold the basket.”_ _

__You eventually say your goodbyes, and with Rose, you recount your fight over the grubs between fits of laughter._ _

__“I can tell you were befriended by the allure of John Egbert, then swiftly introduced to the inner monster known as prankster’s gambit.” Rose chuckles._ _

__“It’s only the second time John had a prank that got the better of me.” You say, wiping a green tear from your eye._ _

__“What was the first, pray tell?” Rose asks, tilting her head._ _

__“Oh, nothing you’d be familiar with.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t tagged with rosemary because Rose is barely in it. Also, I know how annoying it is to look up your favorite ship only to it’s background to another one >:T
> 
> Anyway! That’s it for this chapter of a Homestuck 4/13 fic. Perhaps Next year I will make a new, unrelated one featuring different characters. Maybe within the same canon. Who knows!

**Author's Note:**

> Aburpt ending because I suck at endings.
> 
> I know this isn't too great, but feedback is appreciated. And, assuming it's possible, I'll happily edit to accommodate whatever advice and criticism I receive✌
> 
> Also, if anyone wants me to, I'll write a follow up chapter where John visits Rose and Kanaya in the brooding caverns. It'll focus less on John and Rose and more on John and Kanaya building a friendship. I mean, the two of them have only talked directly to each other _twice_ in canon.


End file.
